It's been a long time, but I can finally contribute again.. :)

Just so you know...I live vicariously through you all when you go fishing and post your stories and pictures, so thank you for doing so.

After a long stretch, I was finally able to hit the lake today. I couldn't find the crappie, and got the same feedback from everyone I asked. But around 3-4 pm, I passed a deep pocket of water...depth finder went from 25 ft to 4 ft because of all the shad so basically 20 feet of shad :yikes. Decided to try it, and first fish I caught broke my line and I thought would break my jig rod. 3-4 times as I was reeling up, I snagged a shad in the side because they were so thick.

Pulled out the bass rod with 20 lb line and threw another shiner down. Bam...fat catfish. Next one was a gou, then several catfish and a bigger gou. Finally had one that I was worried would break my heavy line, but I managed to get him up. Big cat that I had somehow snagged in the side so he was swimming away from me as I reeled. It was a heck of a fight. I gave the two gou to a family on the bank, and brought home 6 channel cats. Also, all of them looked huge from stuffing on shad. The big one had 66 crammed in it's belly, from 1 - 3 inches long. Cats aren't my favorite (like crappie), but the fresh feesh was deleeesh! Anyway, here's the trip proof. :) Thinking of trying again tomorrow, but I'm so sore right now that I don't know if I could. lol

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That butcher knife on the table is 12.5 inches long for perspective. The 5 look small, but only because the hog was so big.
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Wow good mess of cats.

My daughter made a comment to me after she took the pic of me holding the fish...she said something about the "bloody eye". Actually, all of these fish were still kicking by the time I got home, so I used a trick my mother showed me when I was a kid. Centered between the eyes on the forehead, catfish have a small slot that you can puncture with a knife. Then I used a long stiff broom straw and inserted it into the hole and ran it down the spine. Kills the fish instantly so there's no worrying about getting finned or cleaning a live one.

Nice catch


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What is a gou? Every time I think I've heard all the fish names you guys come up another one.

Gaspagoule, Miss spelled- a fresh water drum!

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Originally Posted by SeaRay

What is a gou? Every time I think I've heard all the fish names you guys come up another one.

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Sometimes called a North Louisiana redfish they will stretch The Kinks out of your line.

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Originally Posted by LouisianaFishNut

My daughter made a comment to me after she took the pic of me holding the fish...she said something about the "bloody eye". Actually, all of these fish were still kicking by the time I got home, so I used a trick my mother showed me when I was a kid. Centered between the eyes on the forehead, catfish have a small slot that you can puncture with a knife. Then I used a long stiff broom straw and inserted it into the hole and ran it down the spine. Kills the fish instantly so there's no worrying about getting finned or cleaning a live one.

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Nice catch Scott. I had never heard of the slot between the eyes of a catfish going to have to try it next time I catch one.

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I’m just glad to see you out and about and getting to go fishing. Pretty nice mess of fish. I bet fat boy was a struggle foul hooked.

Good for you Scott, great to see you out again.
"gene"

Very nicely done. I love to catch catfish and never can resist the frequent urges that come over me to deliberately go after cats.
I would think those fresh water drum would be good eatin' too. Are they not???
Thanks for sharing your bounty with the rest of us.

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Originally Posted by trypman1

Gaspagoule, Miss spelled- a fresh water drum!

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I caught some of those in Lake Erie. First time I had ever caught one. First one weighed about 6# and I thought I had the world record Smallmouth on my line!
They called them Black Drum which confused me because we catch salt water Black Drum in SC.

Gaspergou and Flathead Catfish make the best Courtbouillion (equal weight). The gou is lean and the catfish is fat, a combination which makes a delicious gravy.

Nice report, thanks for that!
Funny how hard any foul hooked fish can fight, especially hooked in the tail end!


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Originally Posted by cajun

Gaspergou and Flathead Catfish make the best Courtbouillion (equal weight). The gou is lean and the catfish is fat, a combination which makes a delicious gravy.

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Man, that sounds awesome. What do you call it... CatGou Bisque Gravy??? Sounds like something that one might see on some gourmet recipe channel.

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Originally Posted by LouisianaFishNut

My daughter made a comment to me after she took the pic of me holding the fish...she said something about the "bloody eye". Actually, all of these fish were still kicking by the time I got home, so I used a trick my mother showed me when I was a kid. Centered between the eyes on the forehead, catfish have a small slot that you can puncture with a knife. Then I used a long stiff broom straw and inserted it into the hole and ran it down the spine. Kills the fish instantly so there's no worrying about getting finned or cleaning a live one.

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Been killing them like that all my life...it's pretty slick....

Good to see that you got to go catch a big ole mess of catfish Scott. Congratulations!

Can you Imagine throwing a Cast Net into the water ????

Man those are some nice cats! Way to go, really good to see you posting again

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Managed to go back with my daughter yesterday and the shad were still there. Lots of pelicans and other birds at the banquet too. She managed to out fish me 5 to 2, caught first, and biggest. I was happy for her and glad she went. She cracked me up once when I turned and caught her holding the pole with her foot and reeling in the big one. Lol I made her pose for a picture since I couldn't get the phone out fast enough. I uploaded pics from my phone...looks like they came in sideways. Maybe someone can fix them for me if they have time. Thanks
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Plenty of gou around as well
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Originally Posted by Fish on Line

Can you Imagine throwing a Cast Net into the water ????

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Larry...you wouldn't be able to haul it up! Too heavy.